What Advances in Eye Care and Eyewear Can We Expect in 2009?

Researchers are working on liquid-based lenses for use as implanted contact lenses, cataract surgery lenses and general vision correction. Like plastic and glass, liquid can bend light rays to help eyes achieve precise focus.
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin may have suffered defeat as a vice presidential candidate in 2008. But in 2009 we expect her famous rectangular eyeglasses to endure as a fashion trend.

Soon you may be able to switch from dark sunglasses to clear lenses simply by touching a control in your eyeglass frame.
By introducing corrected genes to replace defective ones, eye doctors may be able to cure inherited forms of blinding eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa.

Artificial implants that stimulate light-sensitive cells in the retina of the eye are showing promise. With continued development, these retinal implants may improve vision for people with eye damage from diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Soon people with presbyopia may be able to wear electronically controlled multifocal eyeglasses with powers that adjust instantly for clear vision at different distances. The lenses will create a larger field of view and eliminate many of the optical limitations of current bifocals, trifocals and progressive lenses.

If final FDA approval occurs, soon you may be able to purchase a product that stimulates eyelash growth for cosmetic purposes. It’s based on a glaucoma drug, which has the hair growth side effect.

Contact lenses may soon serve as a drug delivery system for people suffering from eye allergies, glaucoma or other eye conditions that require frequent use of eye drop medication. The lenses will release the drugs onto the surface of the eye in a controlled, timed-release fashion and eliminate the common problem of people forgetting to use their eye drop medicines.
Chemically treated eyeglass lenses that automatically change tints in sunlight or shade are becoming more sophisticated, and these light-sensitive (or "photochromic") lenses will be offered in more colors.

If you need cataract surgery in the future, you'll likely have more access to different kinds of artificial lenses that can provide vision at all distances simultaneously. Most current cataract lenses provide sharp focus only at one distance, such as far or near.

Contact lenses with built-in microsensors that monitor eye pressure soon may help glaucoma patients monitor their eye pressure at home, just as patients with high blood pressure and diabetes can self-monitor their diseases between doctor visits with blood pressure and blood glucose monitors.
Sophisticated ways of measuring how the eye sees may mean that your eye exams will be more automated and instantaneous, making conventional eye charts obsolete.

The struggling U.S. economy will continue to affect the LASIK and other corrective surgery market in 2009. But LASIK's loss is eyewear's gain: many people who were considering refractive surgery will continue wearing contacts or purchase stylish eyeglasses instead.

Wavefront optical technology increasingly will be used to create contact lenses and eyeglasses that produce sharper vision than currently available lenses. These advanced lenses will enable many wearers to see significantly better than 20/20.

Solar Powered Shades Offer Infinite Energy

Designers Hyun-Joong Kim & Kwang-Seok Jeong create the world’s first “Self-Energy Converting Sunglasses” or called SIG. The SIG sunglasses feature lenses made of dye solar cells that are able to collect energy throughout the day, turning them into electricity to power your small devices through the power jack at the back of the frame.

"The dye solar cell is described by the designers of the SIG as ”cheap organic dye [used with] nano technology [providing] cheap but high energy efficiency.” Inexpensive, light, and visible-ray penetrable. The lens turns sunlight rays, (rays that would otherwise harm the eye,) into electrical energy".

Unless you're Bono*, you will only wear your sunglasses in bright, outdoor light, which is why these Solar Powered Sunglasses are such a great idea. That they are shaped like infinity itself is a mere nerd bonus from the designers of the "Self-Energy Converting Sunglasses", aka SIG.

They're just a concept right now, but we'd suggest that someone (please, not Oakley) gets making these things soon. Running a cable to your head from your MP3 player is an everyday task, so the wires shouldn't be too annoying. The specs should also have built-in earbuds to cut down on clutter, and a much longer cable to hook up phone or iPod -- the one in the picture is ridiculously short.

Add in a couple of LCD displays and a waterproof keyboard and I'd be in heaven. I could blog from the beach, simultaneously turning my skin into bronzed, wrinkled leather as is the custom of all Brits living in Spain.

*If you are Bono, we have a request. Any chance of releasing a decent song ever agian? Your last good album came out 20 years ago.

Split Thump: An MP3 Player hidden in Oakley Sunglasses

Split Thump is the latest high-end pair of sunglasses from Oakley. As we all know, looks are deceptive, and at first glance this Split Thump pair of shades appears perfectly normal. But the fact is that these slim and stylish sunglasses from Oakley are actually an MP3 player in disguise. These lightweight sunglasses have a polished black frame with grey tinted lenses. These sunglasses have been designed in a way that they are sweat resistant, thereby giving access to joggers as well.

Oakley has designed the sunglasses with the MP3 player to suit your world and at the same time rock it. The Split Thump shades look every bit as stylish as any other pair of elite Oakley sunglasses, like the Oakley Minute Sunglasses, for example. Now you can virtually listen to the music anywhere by just either plugging in the speakers or the headphones and can simply unplug them when you just don’t need them. There are control buttons present on your sun glasses about which only you know. Therefore, now you have the convenience of controlling your entire music without anybody even coming to know about it.

This is a highly comprehensive wireless solution provided by Oakley where you just carry the music in something which you already have it with you. Split Thumb from Oakley features high definition Optics protection along with crisp and clear sound quality. The MP3 player is compatible with almost all the audio formats such as MP3, WAV, WMA, M4A, AAC and WMA with DRM 9.0. Oakley Split Thump is definitely a combination of an uncomplicated style and music which has been crystallized into original and clean sunglasses.